The fintech market is showing signs of returning to normalcy in terms of valuations after experiencing a tumultuous period, as noted by a prominent investor.
Tim Levene, the chief executive of Augmentum Fintech—one of Europe’s largest publicly listed venture capital funds—shared insights during a presentation of the fund’s six-month results. He expressed a “cautious optimism” for investors, attributing it to more stable valuations and a shift in market sentiment.
Levene indicated that as interest rates appear to be stabilizing, the prices of fintech stocks are returning to levels last seen in 2018-2019. He explained that valuations had surged dramatically between 2020 and 2021, causing many investors to pull back from the market. This hesitance was still palpable in the early months of the current year.
According to Levene, “A lot of companies resisted coming to market unless absolutely necessary, as they felt the environment wasn’t conducive for fundraising.” This sentiment was echoed in remarks reported by Tech.EU.
Augmentum Fintech, which supports various companies including the UK challenger bank Monese, P2P lender Zopa, and online SME lender Iwoca, reported an increase in the value of its top ten investments from £182 million to £199 million over the six months leading up to the end of September.